Blog posts
: "General"

The truth is a gift from The Lord (it is not something that can be earned.) Intelligence, although beneficial and extremely useful, can sometimes blind those who trust in it more than God (the intellect frequently remains in opposition to simple faith and practical wisdom.) God yearns for His chil…

I once heard a man give his personal testimony. As a youth he had been hopelessly addicted to drugs. Eventually he received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He began reading the bible and his life started changing. Although sober, he hadn’t yet given up his old friends. One day he was ga…

Jesus Christ was born in human form and raised in the house of Mary and Joseph. Yet his true home was with God in heaven. He was a temporary traveler who was ever mindful of his eventual destination. He had no earthly residence; no permanent place to dwell; every miracle, every profession of truth,…

In the first century A.D. the Roman army occupied the Holy Land. As conquerors they were afforded certain privileges. One legal provision gave every Roman soldier the right to compel any Jewish citizen to carry their equipment for up too, but not in excess of, one mile. Jesus used this commonly …

This teaching of forgiveness in Luke 6:37 has dramatic implications. It seems that we are creatures of denial, and we easily forget how much mercy we need in our day-to-day lives. Our pronouncements of judgment are under the assumption that we are the qualified judges. Our quick condemnation of othe…

Sometimes the most important things are not hard to understand. God wants us to love him with every fiber of our being and to also love those around us. All of his demands on character really boil down to honoring these two great principles that transcend law and bring the character of God to hearts…

Notice that God put His words into the mouth of young Jeremiah before he did anything to qualify as a prophet. To see a young man with the word of the Lord would be an unsettling sight for that day, but it would also confirm that it is God who qualifies us to do anything. We have a tendency to want …

The Apostle John was the author of the book of Revelation.When the Lord visited him, he was an old man, living in exile on the Aegean Island of Patmos. John was the last living Apostle; imprisoned for his faith in Jesus Christ (it is generally accepted that John recorded this revelation around 9…

One major prophetic scripture comes from the book of Isaiah; a book written between 740 and 680 B.C. Chapter 53 is particularly interesting because it describes the suffering of Jesus in great detail (hundreds of years before the crucifixion occurred.) We read, “Surely he has borne our griefs, a…

God is called ‘the most high,’ because elevation has always been how human beings distinguish between the valuable and the invaluable. People honor things by lifting them up. In ancient times, when a king stepped down on level ground with a group of his subjects, those subjects would lower themse…

Giving when it hurts is not always easy; nor is it completely logical; but it is praiseworthy. When we give from our abundance we honor God; when we give from our poverty we learn to completely trust in Him. The blessings of faithful charity are abundant; those who give in love, receive the gift…

The key phrase in this passage is “cherished sin”. To cherish something is to value it, to protect it, to hold it dear. As artist Makoto Fujimora has written, “We, today, have a language to celebrate waywardness, but we do not have a cultural language to bring people back home.” In other words, …

Generosity is an essential part of the Christian faith. God has commanded everyone to use their resources to bless others. Giving to God what belongs to Him is known as tithing; a tithe is an offering of the first fruits of one’s increase; for example, a person who earns $100 dollars is instructed…

God’s eternal plan was to create a people for Him. This is more than an individual plan for our lives. God’s plan is a community. To walk alone is cross grain to God’s purposes for our lives. God mercy was not to enable us to do our own thing, but to get a new identity with other people who ar…

Shortly before Jesus was crucified, he foretold of the arrival of a mysterious entity known as the ‘Holy Spirit;’ after the resurrection he ascended in to heaven; and he fulfilled his promise to every believer by sending “the Spirit of Truth.” For nearly 2000 years, Jesus has been seated in glo…

Although Jesus Christ called many, few chose to answer his call.The calling of God demands immediate and absolute obedience. When Jesus summoned Simon and Andrew they were busy fishing. How did they respond? We read, “They immediately left their nets and followed him.” The priority of the first ma…

God lovingly gave mankind rules, that when observed, lead to satisfaction and joy; even in the midst of trials. However, when His statutes are ignored, the disobedient can expect to experience fear, emotional instability, and depression. The formula for achieving lasting peace isn’t complicated…

Weariness is a part of life. Weariness is a part of Ministry. Weariness is definitely something that overtakes us when we set our hearts on doing good for others. The wonderful blessing of God, however, is that he will renew us and sustain us and rekindle us. He does it through the encouraging word …

God is a Father, and like any good Father, He provides for the needs of His children. Fear is the result of a lack of trust in God’s abilities.Birds are just one example of an animal that never worries; they gather no seed nor strive to possess more than they can use. Instead they rely upon thei…

Peter boldly rejected Christ’s prophecy; he vainly exalted himself above the other disciples, saying, “Even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.” Despite great effort, he would go on to deny the Lord three times before morning. Jesus promised that he w…